


The Greatest Gift

by devilinthedetails



Series: Cold Winds [1]
Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Bazhir, Cultural Differences, Duty, Fealty, Gen, Sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:22:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25343878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails
Summary: As a page, Zahir learns the greatest gift a knight can give his king and country.
Series: Cold Winds [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1835392
Kudos: 9





	The Greatest Gift

The Greatest Gift

“Zahir ibn Alhaz.” The strange way Lord Wyldon shaped the syllables of Zahir’s name made it sound foreign to his own ears. “What is the greatest gift a knight can give his king and his realm?” 

Zahir had the sense of skidding on thin ice. Lord Wyldon’s eyes were hard as the frozen Olorun. 

“His fealty,” Zahir guessed because northerners loved fealty. Their entire feudal society was built upon it with ties of loyalty stretching down from the king to his peasants and up again like a tree. 

The tribal society of the Bazhir was different. It was built on blood and the worn heirlooms of tales passed from generation to generation before flickering firelight beneath clear, cold constellations. 

Among the Bazhir, the right and only answer would have been his life’s blood seeping searing scarlet into the sand, but in the north, those words would brand him a savage sand scut. 

“His life.” Lord Wyldon’s lips were a thin, cutting blade. “A knight is worthless if he won’t lay down his life for king and country.” 

Blood had been the right answer after all. Perhaps the northerners and Bazhir weren’t so different. Maybe they both craved young, hot blood.


End file.
